With the NBA season drawing to a close, it’s time to decide who should claim this year’s slate of awards.

Unlike most seasons, when most of these awards have some kind of consensus selection, this year features several races – including arguably the two biggest awards: MVP and Defensive Player of the Year – that are wide open, with several candidates deserving of recognition.

Here’s how The Post sees it, with a breakdown of every award that will be handed out over the next few weeks, beginning with the closest MVP race in years – perhaps ever:

Most Valuable Player

Last year, there was little debate about Kevin Durant being a worthy winner, LeBron James was a near unanimous choice the prior two and Derrick Rose (yes, it’s true) was the year before that.

This season, however, you can make a legitimate case for six different players. Stephen Curry is the best player on unquestionably the league’s best team, with the Warriors playing better than .800 ball under first-year coach Steve Kerr.

James Harden has carried a Rockets team that’s suffered one injury after another to a top-three seed in the Western Conference, while Russell Westbrook has dragged the injury-ravaged Thunder to the brink of the Western Conference playoffs with a superhuman performance over the past two months.

Chris Paul has been the Clippers’ best player at both ends of the floor this season — even if his coach, Doc Rivers, is campaigning for teammate DeAndre Jordan to be the NBA’s Defensive Player of the Year — and helped keep the team afloat when it lost Blake Griffin during a brutal stretch after the All-Star break. Meanwhile, LeBron James has been superb for the Cavaliers – particularly since getting a couple weeks off earlier this season – and Anthony Davis has been the NBA’s best player, full stop.

The choice here by a slim but clear margin is Curry, a truly special player who is a unique challenge for every opponent.

Consider this: Curry takes more pull-up 3-pointers per game (4.4) than any player in the NBA. His shooting percentage on those shots (42.8 percent) is higher than all but five players shoot on 3-pointers of any variety. Curry has taken 70 more 3-pointers than anyone in the league, but still has the league’s third-highest 3-point shooting percentage at 44.2.

Teams basically have to start guarding Curry the moment he reaches half court. He changes the way teams normally play defense, which might be the highest compliment you can give to a player.

The Warriors are 15 points better when Curry is on the court than when he’s on the bench – despite the fact he plays on possibly the deepest team in the NBA.

Even with these eye-popping stats, Curry is far from a runaway selection. In the end, though, his contributions to a historic Warriors season and his sensational individual performance give him the slightest of edges over Harden, who has willed the Rockets to a far better record than they should have given their litany of injuries and personnel setbacks.

Ballot:

1. Curry
2. Harden
3. Paul
4. Westbrook
5. James

Honorable mention: Davis

Defensive Player of the Year

Kawhi LeonardAP

Like this year’s MVP race, the battle for Defensive Player of the Year has gone right down to the final days of the season.

Several teams even have multiple deserving candidates, including Draymond Green and Andrew Bogut from the Warriors, Kawhi Leonard and Tim Duncan from the Spurs, Tony Allen and Marc Gasol from the Grizzlies and Paul and Jordan from the Clippers – not to mention terrific candidates such as the Wizards’ John Wall and Rudy Gobert of the Jazz.

Eventually, though, the options got whittled down to two: Leonard and Green. Both are unique talents. Leonard’s incredible athleticism and exceptional length allow him to be the best wing defender in the league. Green’s all-around excellence has made him the linchpin in the Warriors’ league-leading defensive scheme — the team switches constantly on screens because Green can guard every position on the court, 1 through 5.

The choice here is Leonard, though, because like Curry offensively, Leonard is a singular force on the defensive end, with the ability to completely take a team out of its offense by himself. That was on display when the Spurs beat the Warriors recently in San Antonio, getting seven steals and giving Curry – one of the league’s best ball-handlers – an incredibly hassle just bringing the ball up the court.

You can make almost equally good arguments for the rim protectors on each team — Duncan and Bogut have been outstanding — but third place is going to Gobert, the second-year center who has helped transform the Jazz into the league’s best defensive team since the All-Star break. He holds opponents to a league-low 39.1 percent shooting at the rim.

Ballot:

1. Leonard
2. Green
3. Gobert

Honorable mention: Wall, Allen, Bogut, Duncan

Rookie of the Year

Andrew WigginsAP

Heading into the draft last June, it appeared this would shape up as a season-long battle between Andrew Wiggins and Jabari Parker. But after Parker went down with a torn ACL a third of the way into the season, there was no longer a question.

Instead, the debate shifted to who was going to finish as the runners-up behind Wiggins, the Timberwolves’ No. 1 pick. Three candidates – Nikola Mirotic, Nerlens Noel and Elfrid Payton – have emerged from the pack. Mirotic and Noel are both unique rookies. The Bulls’ Mirotic is 24 and spent several years starring in Europe. Noel was the sixth overall pick in the 2013 draft and sat out a full season for the 76ers recovering from a torn ACL he suffered while at Kentucky.

Both have been outstanding since the All-Star break, allowing them to slip past Payton, an incredibly fun player to watch for the Magic – he has a little Rajon Rondo in him, because of his style of play and his lack of shooting at the point guard spot – to claim the two remaining spots on the ballot.

Ballot:

1. Wiggins
2. Mirotic
3. Noel

Honorable mention: Payton

Sixth Man of the Year

Andre Iguodala

This is an award where, frankly, there are no outstanding candidates. Usually it just winds up going to the league’s best bench scorer, because it’s easier to determine how much of an impact a player is having on offense than on defense.

But even this season, those candidates aren’t as clear. Lou Williams is considered to be the front-runner by many, but he’s a gunner who provides next to nothing for the Raptors on defense. Jamal Crawford played well for the Clippers earlier in the season, but has spent the past few weeks dealing with injury issues, and also isn’t exactly a defensive stopper.

Then there’s the curious case of Isaiah Thomas, who probably has been the most productive bench player in the league. He has helped the Celtics launch themselves back into playoff contention … but also helped torpedo the Suns’ season, leading the team to deal away Thomas and Goran Dragic at the trade deadline.

The choice here is for Andre Iguodala, who has become a bench player for the Warriors after starting every game he played through his first 10 years in the NBA. He has done so seamlessly, giving the Warriors a second ball-handler to take pressure off Curry, a lethal defender to come in and harass opposing wing players and a respectable threat to knock down open 3-pointers.

Second place goes to Manu Ginobili, who has been excellent for the Spurs and is on pace to play in more games than he has in four years. Williams takes the third spot thanks to giving the Raptors – winners of the Atlantic Division for a second year in a row – a much-needed scoring boost off the bench.

Ballot:

1. Iguodala
2. Ginobili
3. Williams

Honorable mention: Thomas, Crawford

Most Improved Player

There are few things more frustrating than trying to determine what it means to be the “most improved player.” No one would miss it if this award simply didn’t exist.

Second-year players are immediately thrown out, because they are expected to improve from year one to year two, meaning candidates like Gobert don’t get consideration.

You also have to guard against players delivering the same kind of production they did in fewer minutes previously – which is how Ryan Anderson wound up winning the award a few years back when he basically had the exact same per-minute numbers he did in a smaller role the year prior.

Jimmy ButlerAP

This season, Jimmy Butler has been a pretty clear choice since back in December.

Butler has blossomed into a player capable of being a difference-maker at both ends of the floor, adding a much improved shooting stroke both overall (46.6 percent, up from 39.7) and 3-point range (36.6 percent, up from 28.3) to bump his scoring average up almost seven points to 20.1 per game. He’s helped the Bulls to survive the latest round of Derrick Rose injuries.

Klay Thompson picks up the second spot on this ballot after the Warriors were questioned by many (cough, cough) for not trading him to Minnesota for Kevin Love last summer. All he’s done since then is blossom into an All-Star who is lights-out from behind the arc and able to guard almost any opposing perimeter player. Not a bad combination to have, especially alongside Curry.

The nod for the third spot goes to Rockets forward Donatas Motiejunas. The 7-footer from Lithuania is out for the remainder of the season after undergoing back surgery this week, but he took a big step forward and was the Rocket’s best post-up threat for the vast majority of this season, helping them survive Dwight Howard’s injury woes.

Ballot:

1. Butler
2. Thompson
3. Motiejunas

Coach of the Year

This award has been a choice between two candidates – Golden State’s Steve Kerr and Atlanta’s Mike Budenholzer – since about Dec. 1.

Steve KerrGetty Images

The choice here is for Kerr, not only because he’s led the Warriors to the most wins in the league (though that’s never a bad argument). He has made Thompson better at both ends, found ways to utilize Green’s unique talents in the best manner possible and, perhaps most importantly, managed to keep the team’s chemistry intact while minimizing the roles of Iguodala and David Lee – two of the team’s most experienced and highest-paid players, each still capable of playing significant minutes on a good team.

None of that is to diminish the job Budenholzer has done in Atlanta, implementing many of the same philosophies he learned working for nearly two decades under the Spurs’ Gregg Popovich. He has make the Hawks one of the most enjoyable teams in the league to watch while helping four of his players earn trips to the All-Star Game and rack up the second-most wins in the league.

How about Brad Stevens for the third spot? The former Butler string-puller has somehow dragged the Celtics — who might not have a single player capable of start on a legitimate championship contender, and that includes No. 6 overall pick Marcus Smart — into playoff position. Yes, the East is weaker than the West by a considerable margin, but it’s still an incredibly impressive feat.

Ballot:

1. Kerr
2. Budenholzer
3. Stevens

Honorable mention: Kevin McHale, Rockets; Jason Kidd, Bucks; Popovich

All-NBA First Team

No need to waste much time on this. Curry, Harden, James and Davis were four of the consensus top-six MVP picks, and Duncan has been sensational in his 18th NBA season, earning significant consideration for Defensive Player of the Year.

Ballot:

G: Curry
G: Harden
F: James
F: Davis
C: Duncan

All-NBA Second Team

Chris Paul and Blake GriffinAP

There also isn’t a great deal to debate about this group. Paul and Westbrook were no-brainers after Curry and Harden, while the Trail Blazers’ LaMarcus Aldridge and Griffin fell neatly behind James and Davis. For much of the season, Gasol seemed like a sure bet to be the first-team center, but Duncan’s consistency wound up winning the day and moved Gasol down to second team.

Ballot:

G: Paul
G: Westbrook
F: Aldridge
F: Griffin
C: Gasol

All-NBA Third Team

This is where things get interesting. Wall is a pretty clear pick for the first guard spot, but the second spot was open to a wide range of deserving candidates, including Thompson, Butler, Kyrie Irving, Damian Lillard, Dwyane Wade and Mike Conley. The nod eventually went to Thompson because of the combination of shooting prowess and defense.

The forward spots went mostly by default: the absences of Kevin Durant and Paul George due to injury and Dirk Nowitzki and Kevin Love (who’s he again?) left Leonard and the Hawks’ Paul Millsap without much competition.

Third-team center is tricky. Jordan, DeMarcus Cousins, Al Horford, Tyson Chandler. Jordan gets the nod because of his insane rebounding numbers – he’s flirting with finishing north of 15 per game – and incredible offensive efficiency for the Clippers.

Ballot:

G: Wall
G: Thompson
F: Leonard
F: Millsap
C: Jordan

All-Defensive First Team

Leonard, Green and Gobert were holdovers from my Defensive Player of the Year ballot, and let’s give Paul and Allen the two guard spots on the first team.

Ballot:

G: Paul
G: Allen
F: Leonard
F: Green
C: Gobert

All-Defensive Second Team

Wall and Butler are strong choices at guard. Duncan edges Bogut for the center spot.

At forward, credit Serge Ibaka, who is averaging 2.4 blocks per game for the Thunder, and DeMarre Carroll, who has been outstanding for the Hawks on the wings, taking on the challenge of guarding whoever the opposition’s top perimeter threat.

Ballot:

G: Wall
G: Butler
F: Carroll
F: Ibaka
C: Duncan

All-Rookie First Team

Wiggins, Mirotic, Noel and Payton were obvious selections here. Problem is, they are really the only worthwhile selections for either the first or second team.

There has to be a second guard on the roster, though, so the nod goes to Jordan Clarkson, who has turned into a nice find for the Lakers from the second round of the draft.

Ballot:

G: Payton
G: Clarkson
F: Wiggins
F: Mirotic
C: Noel

All-Rookie Second Team

Now this is a wasteland.

Trying to find 10 rookies deserving of making All-Rookie teams might have been an even harder task than trying to choose between Curry and Harden for MVP.

Zach LaVine (Timberwolves), Marcus Smart (Celtics), Bojan Bogdanovic (Nets) and Jusuf Nurkic (Nuggets) form the next tier. That leaves one final spot — a choice between Rodney Hood or Langston Galloway. Give it to Hood, who has been playing a lot for a Jazz team that’s been terrific over the second half, while Galloway has benefited from having to be a producer on an atrocious Knicks team.